Monday night’s Mumford & Sons show at the Molson Amphitheatre may as well have been a crowning ceremony. If it wasn’t clear going into the sold-out show, it became blatantly obvious during the mesmerizing two-hour set that the English folk-rock foursome are the hottest touring act in the world right now.
Fast fashion retailers like Zara, Joe Fresh and H&M have taken over the retail landscape in a big way. Featuring designs entirely “inspired” by current trends shown at fashion weeks, this business model values speed over craftsmanship, recognized trends over original design and low prices over sustainable business practices.
Silex is a flint-and-sand-based soil type found primarily in the Loire Valley. It’s formed from a mixture of clay, limestone and silica, and it gives the Chenin Blanc grape a special flavour in Vouvray. Pale straw in colour, this wine has a nose of quince and honey. It’s medium-bodied with a minerally, pear flavour.
For a reprieve from summer blockbusters, TIFF Bell Lightbox presents a series of films that are far more thought-provoking. Rebel Yell: A New Generation of Turkish Women Filmmakers is a collection of features, documentaries and shorts that are directed by women in a culture that has long been dominated by men.
For the next four nights, esteemed chef Oliver Glowig will be taking over the kitchen at The Ritz-Carlton’s Toca as a sort of pop-up concept. Glowig, a German-born chef who is currently based in Rome, has earned numerous Michelin stars throughout his career. At Toca, he will be offering items from his eponymous restaurant in Rome.
Encouraging readers to try new and interesting styles of beer is something I consciously try do with this column. This week, though, I have something more familiar (everyone’s heard of IPAs, right?), but I think this one is particularly well-made.
Sarah Neufeld, member of Grammy Award–winning, Montreal-based band Arcade Fire, released her first album as a solo artist this week. A tireless collaborator, Neufeld says it was time she pushed herself and her instrument to see what could be done. Plenty, as it turns out.
At least twice (maybe three) times a year, this mommy takes herself on solo vacations, anywhere from five to 10 days. I love travelling as much as my daughter loves french fries, which is to say, “an obsessive amount.” My daughter is in overnight camp right now. I’m in Playa Del Carmen (the Yorkville of Mexico).
Black Dice Cafe is a neighbourhood gem. Perched on a once-sleepy neck of Dundas Street West, amidst Portuguese sports bars and a bevy of newcomers like Cafe Bar Pasta, this retro space from owner Hideki Saito rings in its fourth birthday come September. Inside, regulars sit at ’50s-style tables — dotted with lamps emitting a greenish glow — and nurse beverages against a backdrop of rockabilly tunes.
What is up with the lack of rotten fish in Toronto? Seriously, anyone who has a craving for decrepit old herring, the kind that smells like terrible diaper caca, is kind of screwed in this town because it’s nearly impossible to find surströmming here.
There was something just a little off about The Price is Right Live, a watered-down touring version of the longstanding mid-day game show that rolled into the Molson Amphitheatre on Sunday. Not that it mattered one iota to the throngs of eager wannabe contestants on hand.
Dave Sidhu, the man behind the Playa Cabana restaurants, is opening new taquerias at a lightning-fast pace, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down. After just opening Playa Cabana Hacienda in July, he’s set to open a fourth restaurant in Koreatown, which will be named, appropriately, Barrio Coreano.
